Galaxy of Terror (1981)

That was an excellent one.

Powerful

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

It's difficult for me to recommend this film to anyone as GALAXY OF TERROR is certainly not a "good" movie. However, among the other ALIEN clones I would say it fares the best in really recreating the "feeling" of the original. So much so, in fact, that I think it certainly helped the case for 2nd unit director James Cameron to find work directing the official sequel ALIENS.Actually, the concept for this feel feels much more in line with, say, SPHERE or EVENT HORIZON with an ensemble cast on some dark mission in the dark corners of space battling their worst nightmares on a harsh and unforgiving environment.As far as environment goes, this film captures it in spades. Considering it's a Roger Corman production with an even smaller budget than its predecessor (the previous year's BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS), GOT boasts surprisingly credible production design and special effects. The costume design reminds one of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the sound reminiscent of "Star Trek" (complete with the same photon torpedo effects), though all given a unique gloomy atmosphere of dread thanks to its special effects department and much of Barry Shrader's resourceful, low-tech, but effective score. Jacques Haitkin's nightmarish cinematography helps a lot too, often going monochromatic blue and red further heightening the shocks.Structured like a horror movie at a slim, fast-paced 81 minutes, the film puts a lot more creative energy into staging some quality kills than setting up its characters. In fact, the gritty tone is nearly destroyed early on with some comparatively bright and cheery scenes of the human home-world (not Earth?) and its pathetic attempt to set up the universe and characters. We only get via a brief voice-over that the home planet "Xerxes" is run by some kind of omnipotent "Master" who exercises unquestioned control over space missions but we never see him do anything powerful. As one-dimensional as he is, none of the other characters come off as even slightly more interesting than The Master and we never really get to know or care about any of them, other than that they're played by an assortment of colorful recognizable B- movie and TV stars.A better script would have propelled this into the major leagues, but as it stands, GALAXY OF TERROR remains an effective cult classic with enough gore, shocks, scares, and atmosphere to provide enjoyment for less-discriminating B-movie fans.

Good Fun Movie. Good Kills. Decent Plot. Not an Alien copy. Good Cinematography and Set Design.This is not an Alien clone. Alien sucks. I watched it last year and was incredibly disappointed. Check out the acting, character motivation, smoking on a spaceship - stupid. The best part of Alien was in the extra footage. I hate that movie. Only similarity this movie has with Alien is that it's a sf space movie with monsters. Big deal.Good camera work. Good kills. Decent acting, not great. Plot is OK, not great. A stupid fun movie. Not bad.Good Fun Movie. Good Kills. Decent Plot. Not an Alien copy. Good Cinematography and Set Design.This is not an Alien clone. Alien sucks. I watched it last year and was incredibly disappointed. Check out the acting, character motivation, smoking on a spaceship - stupid. The best part of Alien was in the extra footage. I hate that movie. Only similarity this movie has with Alien is that it's a sf space movie with monsters. Big deal.Good camera work. Good kills. Decent acting, not great. Plot is OK, not great. A stupid fun movie. Not bad.

Okay, I'm writing this review less than twenty-four hours since I watched this film. Or at least I think I did. I've had to look up the plot and the cast to remind myself whether this was the film I saw or not. Apparently, I did.I do like bad films, or rather I like 'so-bad-they're-good' films. This is definitely one of them. For, as far as I can remember, I did actually enjoy it for the ninety minutes or so that I sat through it. It's just a pity it hasn't left much of a lasting impression. Then I read someone else's review and it mentions 'maggot rape.' Then it all came flooding back to me.After the colossal hit of 'Alien' it seems that 'monster-in-space' movies were all the rage, or at least they were in the bins of VHS stores you saw in your local rental shops. 'Galaxy of Terror' – like so many others of its kind – never made it to the cinema and certainly never achieved as much praise as Sigourney Weaver's epic outing.If you don't like Alien, you'll hate this film. If you like good films, you'll hate this film. In fact, most people will hate this film. It is pretty easy to detest. However, if you generally like bad films, there's a small chance you'll get something out of this. However, if you like bad films and want to see just how much one film can rip off Alien without getting totally sued, then you do stand a chance of enjoying this (this was me, by the way).Crew of spaceship, blah, blah, blah, lands on planet, blah, blah, blah, monster on the loose, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it's pretty run-of-the-mill. However, like I said, if you know that it's a blatant Alien rip-off you'll be okay with it. Despite the awful blue-screen scenes where the spaceship flies through the galaxy (which are generally a measure of the film's special effects budget), the sets and general atmosphere are actually quite good. They're dark, foreboding and generally claustrophobically mood-inducing, but that might have something to do with the man behind the sets being none other than James (Aliens/Terminator/Avatar) Cameron.There are a few bits that are actually quite memorable (you recall my comment on the 'maggot rape?') and these may stick with you slightly longer than the twenty-four hours it's taken me to forget everything apart from that bit and apparently the man with the glowing head.Know what you're in for. It's a classic, but only in the sense that it's so bad that you'll find yourself not being able to turn it off simply because you can't believe just how bad it's actually getting.Oh, and Freddy Kruger's in it too – or that guy who plays him, only not half as well as he did with Freddy.

I am not sure why I actually finished watching this crummy movie. The only semi-decent acting came from Edward Albert. All the others including Erin Morin must have taken this role because she needed the money. She must not have a residuals agreement for the numerous "Happy Days" reruns that are all over the TV screen. I don't think she was all that good then either. The special effects are some of the worst I have ever seen for this time period. There are a couple of questions that come up but are never answered. Why was Baelon such an emotional wreck? Why so angry? Why did they burn all the bodies they came across? Who in their right mind would send a newbie Cos out on his own to search a crash. I mean if I had written this script (no way in hell) I would have paired him with someone, that way two could be killed instead of just him. The entire plot of this movie seemed to be to select the new Master" for what ever world they came from. Another point is where is the food source for the creatures that appear? This is an extremely poorly done movie and I hope ALL the copies and the original get destroyed.